Airborne Displays.
I went cycling up along the Downs today. I hadn't realised that there was going to be some sort of feestival going on. Specifically, some sort of kite festival. There were dozens of kites in the air, all very colourful.

And these weren't your basic uneven-diamond kites, either. Oh, no. There were two 3D abstracted footballers, with balls attatched to their 'feet'. There was a pair of disembodied legs. There was a very large blonde woman. There was a panda. There were three geckoes, in blue, red, and green, striped black. There was a blue bear with a white T-shirt. There was a scuba diver with accompanying fish. There was a black spider, which apparently couldn't get off the ground. There was a rainbow-striped sting ray about forty feet long.

Keep in mind that all these things were in 3D. Goodness only knows how they stayed up.

There were plenty of 2D kites as well, of course, including a number of weird, arched kites with sharp tips that did very fast spirals close to the ground. And a Star of David in red and blue, with a streamer attached. And a black-and-white portrait of someone famous (I guess). There was also a long rope tied to about fifty traditional kites.

That's not the best bit, although it was really colourful.

There's this birdwatching point up at the Gorge. About twenty seconds after I got there, a pair of ravens arrived. And then a pair of buzzards appeared. And then a peregrine falcon showed up and started mobbing one of the buzzards, which was possibly having a showdown with the ravens.

Five spectacular birds, all in that one patch of sky.

It is absolutely the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. The ravens -they had slightly wedge-shaped tails, and long, narrow wings. They looked like they were just playing in the air. And then they formed a kind of ring with the buzzards almost. The buzards were incredible. And the peregrine dived on one of the buzzards, and watching the close-contact...it was simply amazing.

I'm going up there tomorrow.